I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to mail sorting and, more particularly, to a mail sorting system and method for sorting mail into delivery point order in a single pass.
II. Discussion of the Background Art
Mail must be delivered in a timely and cost effective manner to support and maintain commercial activity in a free market economy. It has been found that both the processing time and cost associated with mail delivery can be reduced by sorting mail pieces into delivery point order (i.e., the sequential order in which mail pieces are to be delivered along a carrier route) before dispatch. However, sorting mail into delivery point order can be a complex and time consuming task.
Although most modern postal facilities include automated mail sorting equipment, the mail sorting equipment is generally configured to implement a two pass process in which each mail piece is fed into the mail sorting equipment twice for sorting. In the first pass, the address on each mail piece is read by an optical character reader (OCR), a destination code including information about carrier route and delivery point is assigned, and the mail piece is deposited in a bin in random order based on carrier route. The mail in the bins is then fed through the feeder a second time, scanned, and sorted into delivery point order based on the destination code.
A disadvantage of the two pass sorting process is that it increases the likelihood of damaging mail pieces and/or scanning errors, which can lead to additional cost and processing time. A further disadvantage of the current two pass process is that letters and flats mail generally cannot be sorted at the same time using the same equipment.